A suspected Ebola carrier who entered the United States from Liberia on Friday is currently under observation, while in isolation, at the Duke University Hospital in Durham, according to North Carolina state health authorities.

The patient, who came down with Ebola-like symptoms soon after landing in America, reportedly had no known exposure to the disease, and besides fever has showed no other symptoms.

“The patient will remain in a contained, isolated and secured unit until the results of testing are known. These precautions are being taken based on the patient’s recent travel from Liberia. Ebola is not spread through the air, water or food – or simply by being near an infected person. Ebola is only spread through unprotected contact with blood or body fluids from an infected person who has symptoms, or with objects like needles that have been contaminated with the virus.”

According to a number of reports, approximately 5,000 people have already died from Ebola since December, with the huge majority of those fatalities taking place in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

A Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, who arrived at Dallas airport on September 20, was the first person officially diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. He tragically passed away on October 8, while two nurses who treated him contracted the virus but were both cured.

Meanwhile, an American doctor, Craig Spencer, is being treated at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York after becoming ill with Ebola. Spencer’s doctors said on Saturday that he was stable and responding well to treatment.

As a result of the numerous recent cases of Ebola on U.S. soil some people at the Department of Health are worried that it could signify the start of a wider epidemic on U.S. mainland as officials do all they can stop the spread of the virus any further.